After returning home from the Annual Meeting of the Raptor Research Foundation in Albuquerque, New Mexico, this October 2023, Boise State University MS Raptor Biology student Kevin Myers had a pleasant surprise. Myers was notified that he had won a raffle prize from GeoTrak that he entered at the conference for two free Argos PTTs. The Argos system allows any raptor (or other animal) equipped with a compatible transmitter (Platform Transmitters Terminals – PTT) to be tracked and located anywhere in the world. The PTTs are critical pieces of field equipment for raptors such as the golden eagles that Myers works with, who do not tend to stay in one place long.
While at the Raptor Research Foundation conference as a first-year graduate student, Myers presented his poster titled, “Effects of diet on Golden Eagle nestling health and post-fledging survival in southwest Idaho.” Coauthors on the poster were MS Raptor Biology student Ashley Santiago, Kevin Warner of the Idaho Military Division, Matthew Stuber (MS, Raptor Biology, ’15), and Boise State University professor Julie Heath (MS, Raptor Biology, ’96).